Art and Society

Introduction

The trends, norms and occurrences in our surrounding and our society, at times play a pivotal role in igniting in us our hidden feeling and spirit, with respect to any prevalent practice or norm of the society. Today, the West, by the rest of the world is revered as a liberal region, which not only practices liberalism and equality in their own societies, but also advocates the same practices to the rest f the regions of the world. However, the face of West that we see today was not the same almost 150 years ago; our societies were not as liberal as we witness them today to be. Freedom of speech and equality of women were no less than a dream or a hidden desire of the inhabitants of western regions. Even in those stern times, there were a few influential individuals who had the fortitude to speak against the society, and demanded their equality, through different means. The artists mostly opted to bring a change or send across a message to the society via their art.

Thesis Statement

Art is the voice of inner feelings and has the power of changing the society.

"Marlene" By Hannah Hoch

From the view of a common man, this splendid art work by Hannah Hoch, arouses a certain level of seduction and accentuates on the sexuality of women, depicting a pair of long legs positioned upside down, wearing heals along with the stockings. These legs are assembled in an upside down position, on a conventional architectural pillar. Moreover, the picture also depicts two men on the bottom right, incessantly staring at those legs. The upper right hand corner of the picture constitutes of a half face depicting mainly on the big red lips. Interestingly this half face is placed aside from the glare of males at the bottom. The whole picture gives the feel of a stage, and “marlene”, written for the stage, shows as though a fan has written it (Hoch, Currid & Luyken. P.22).

By images like Marlene and numerous others, Hoch shows her fortitude to confront and challenge the society with respect to status and place of women. Moreover, she also attempts to instigate the demanding issues of society, in term of the sexuality of a woman and the role of genders identity.

Hannah Hoch

Hannah Hoch, one of the most renowned and revered and even controversial artists of Germany, was born in 1889, in the city of Gotha. Like her work, her life was also quite controversial, involving her romantic involvement with numerous men. Hannah was prone to arts from a young age. Even in her college she opted to study art. She studied her passion from a renowned college of Berlin that is the College of Arts and Crafts. World war I was a tough time on Germany, and like other Germans, even Hoch wished to serve her coutrymates in any manner; therefore, she affiliated herself with Red Cross during the Wrold War. After the war was over, Hoch resumed her studies.

Hoch's Emotional Involvements

After ...